FMCSA Grants National Asphalt Pavement Association HOS Exemption

Getty Images

The National Asphalt Pavement Association has been granted a five-year exemption from two federal hours-of-service requirements, regulators announced Jan. 26.

The first requirement that is exempted pertains to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s 30-minute rest break provision. The other is on the requirement that shorthaul drivers using record-of-duty-status exceptions return to their work-reporting location within 12 hours of beginning a work shift.

“Drivers of asphalt delivery vehicles typically drive approximately one-third of their workday; the rest of their day is spent waiting to load or unload their vehicles and in other non-driving duties such as paperwork and cleaning their trucks after each load,” FMCSA wrote in the Federal Register.

Truckers are allowed to operate commercial vehicles only “if eight hours or less have passed since end of driver’s last off-duty or sleeper berth period of at least 30 minutes,” according to FMCSA.

Howard Marks, the association’s vice president for environment, health and safety, praised the agency’s decision.

“Because drivers of asphalt-related trucks generally operate within limited areas and spend a good portion of their day waiting to load or unload their trucks, as opposed to driving, these drivers do not face the sort of fatigue factors long-haul truckers face or that [hours-of-service] regulations were developed to address,” Marks said.

NAPA is a trade association that represents asphalt producers and contractors.